"Apple’s $1.05 billion jury verdict, which held that Samsung, the world’s No. 1 manufacturer of mobile phones, had violated several patents owned by Apple, the world’s most valuable company, will cause huge aftershocks in the cellphone, software, and Internet industries."

Allowing Apple to run rampant with dubious patents in the US seems contrary to court decisions made in the EU, South Korea and Australia.

Some of that will depend on her personal leanings. A lot of Americans will choose to do something the exact opposite way people everywhere else do things, simply because they don't want to be associate with "those people over there."

For example, Europe has closed-circuit TV cameras everywhere so the police can keep an eye on things. No cities in the US do, and a lot of citizens consider it an unacceptable violation of privacy. Nobody wants to be recorded going into a strip club or sex shop, because of the off chance their spouse might find out.

Some of that will depend on her personal leanings. A lot of Americans will choose to do something the exact opposite way people everywhere else do things, simply because they don't want to be associate with "those people over there."

For example, Europe has closed-circuit TV cameras everywhere so the police can keep an eye on things. No cities in the US do, and a lot of citizens consider it an unacceptable violation of privacy. Nobody wants to be recorded going into a strip club or sex shop, because of the off chance their spouse might find out.

Some of that will depend on her personal leanings. A lot of Americans will choose to do something the exact opposite way people everywhere else do things, simply because they don't want to be associate with "those people over there."

For example, Europe has closed-circuit TV cameras everywhere so the police can keep an eye on things. No cities in the US do, and a lot of citizens consider it an unacceptable violation of privacy. Nobody wants to be recorded going into a strip club or sex shop, because of the off chance their spouse might find out.

Wow, that ruins a lot of CSI and other crime series then as they nearly always rely on evidence from CCTV street cameras that don't exist...

I dunno.
Letting everybody copy Apple products at will doesn't help *me* in any meaningful way because I don't particularly like Apple designs in the first place.

its not just about Apple vs Samsung only this is about blocking FOSS. Microsoft has been trying to do that for years using different companies has not succeeded yet. Read that if you want to understand more

FOSS?
Well, now.
It seems to me that one giant for-profit multinational ripping off another giant for-profit multinational to capture a major share of an expensive gadget market and make a zillion bucks in the process has very little to do with FOSS. And a whole lot to do with good old fashioned profit seeking.
No altruism involved here on either side.

Look, Samsung is going to fight the verdict to the end simply because the longer they fight the longer they can benefit from the existing loineup and the longer they have to develop non-infringing products. And because a couple hundred million in legal fees is cheaper than a couple billion in payments.
But even in the worst case scenario, the money they would pay is cheap compared to what they got; a massive share of the world smartphone business acquired using Apple's own designs and--even more important--the *time* they needed to develop original designs that could compete with Apple.
The reality here is simple: Samsung copied Apple to make money, not to advance any philosophy or principle.
Whether the copying is legal or not is actually irrelevant to *them*.
As their memos made clear they thought their products were non-competitive and it would take too long to develop ones that were so they chose to copy Apple and even after Google warned them they kept on copying. They did so because they wanted to keep Apple from running away with the market the way Amazon is running away with the ebook reader market in certain regions.
And what better way to keep Apple from running uncontested than to challenge them with their own products in drag?

It was cold, calculated, profit seeking, not philosophy.

Samsung certainly didn't champion FOSS at the trial or in their press releases.
Instead, they brought out *their* proprietary closed IP and claimed Apple was ripping *them* off. Instead of defending their actions by themselves, they sought to cancel out their violation with Apple's violation.

Doesn't sound to me like they believe in FOSS one bit.
I'm thinking FOSS supporters need to find a better poster-child than the biggest and most profitable electronics company in the world.
Now, if Samsung were copying iPhones and giving them away for free (or even below cost) to the poor ragged uncool hordes of the world, then they might be suitable champions for FOSS. But one greedy multinational ripping off another greedy multinational?
Feh!
A pox 'pon both their houses.
It's fun entertainment but about as meaningful as any other cheap soap opera.

I find this surprising, because if you like the way your phone works then keep it. No one is going to break down the door and take it out of your hand.

Quote:

customers of Samsung have been dumping their Android products on at least one major resale site. Gazelle.com reports a 50% increase in Samsung smartphones over the past three days...“Consumers seem to be jumping ship,” says Anthony Scarsella, chief gadget officer at Gazelle.com.

Quote:

The court decision, they point out, is creating a lot of uncertainty about Android upgrades. The next generation of Samsung phones may be very different from those on the market today. Consumers get used to certain key features on their favorite smartphones — like the way apps are laid out or how they zoom in on pictures, experts say. “Android customers are no longer sure of that,” says Yung Trang, president of deal aggregator TechBargains.com.

"Motorola Mobility—now a Google-owned subsidiary—has admitted through court filings in US District Court that it has agreed to license its 3G-related patents to Apple in Germany, avoiding antitrust claims in a German Higher Regional Court."

"Some believe that Google could be hoping to avoid official antitrust sanctions in the EU over the use of standards-essential patents against competitors, and that conclusion does seem plausible."

Wow, that ruins a lot of CSI and other crime series then as they nearly always rely on evidence from CCTV street cameras that don't exist...

Not only that, but the "cleaning up" of a little 240x160 cell phone camera picture to find that one tiny pinky fingerprint on the window of a car (with full ridge detail) that's about 30 yards away from the person taking the picture.